Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Blackberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine 1 cup cold water with 1 pound sugar in a pot and heat until dissolved.
Add the egg white (for every 3 to 4 pounds of fruit) and skim off any scum that rises.
Cook and jar
When the scum stops rising, add the blackberries and cook for 30 minutes.
Pour the jam into small jars and cover as you would jelly.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Blackberries
- Supply the fruit flavor and the bulk of the jam.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps preserve the jam while it thickens.
- Egg white
- Coagulates when heated and gathers impurities into scum that can be skimmed off, clearing the jam.
The step that matters
Skim the scum before adding the blackberries. The egg white proteins set when heated and trap impurities that rise to the surface. Skimming until the scum stops rising leaves a clear jam, while adding fruit too early can mix the impurities back in.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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